Abstract

The thesis offers a detailed study of that part of consumer
behaviour which is status-directed and which encourages
individuals to purchase and consume products not for their
intrinsic value (i.e. their value in use) but for their
extrinsic (i.e. prestige) value.
The work is in two parts. Part One (7 Chapters) explores
the nature of conspicuous consumption and seeks to explain
why and under what conditions such exceptional behaviour
occurs. The treatment of conspicuous consumption in
economic and social thought is examined and evaluated
(Cn.l) and Chapter 2 proposes a theoretical explanation
of the propensity to conspicuously consumer. Chapter 3
develops a research methodology appropriate to the theory.
Chapters 4, 5 and 6, then comprise a study of conspicuous
consumption as observed in traditional, achieving and
affluent societies, while Chapter 7 draws these studies
together in perspective.
Part 2 (3 Chapters) focuses more specifically on conspicuous
consumption in the modern, affluent society and seeks to
develop a theoretical model of consumer decision processes
relating to such behaviour. Chapter 8 is concerned with
evaluating the treatment of conspicuous consumption within
behavioural theories of consumer demand. Chapter 9 complements
Chapter 8 in assessing the contribution of economics and of
economic demand theories to the subject. Drawing on Chapters
8 and 9, Chapter 10 then proposes a theoretical model of
consumer decision processes with respect to conspicuous
consumption in the modern, industrialised society.